I think any recounting of today’s events has to begin this way: Thank God this ended well.
Covering the aerospace industry I have the good fortune of regularly getting up close and personal with things that fly, some older, newer and riskier than others. In the back of your mind there’s always a quietly lingering thought that something like this could happen. This was that moment.
It was wonderful watching the eight Boeing Stearman aircraft drift into sight over the Potomac River south of National Airport. General aviation movements at DCA aren’t permitted and the occasional business jets are the closest National gets to unscheduled operations at the closest airport to the Capitol. The classic bi-planes were flying in from Manassas Airport just south of Dulles.Amid the E-Jets, CRJs, A320s and 737s, the little single engine two seaters appeared out of place amongst the relatively large heavy metal taxiing around the airport. We were all excited to see the flight of vintage Boeing aircraft arrive to promote Legends of Flight, and the first touched down on Runway 1 and began its taxi to a ramp area near the Terminal A observation deck.
About 25 seconds later, the second, a yellow painted Stearman, followed the the first aircraft in what appeared to be a normal approach with more than enough margin to the 150ft wide runway. Dan Webb, standing next to me, filmed what was about to unfold.
The main wheels touched the runway and a split second later the bi-plane tumbled end-over-end just at the 1000ft marker, striking the prop against the pavement, landing the aircraft on its back in the middle of the runway. An audible gasp was let out by the 30 or so observers watching the scene unfold.
My heart was pounding.
The the third Stearman following closely behind aborted its touchdown and flew around the downed bi-plane. It felt like things were moving in slow motion. Thankfully, within moments, the two occupants, including a Washington Post reporter who was filming on board, were seen walking away from the Stearman. Airport operations managers, who were attending the morning’s press conference, snapped into action scrambled to mobilize first responders.
Judging by the time stamps on my photos, within three minutes or less, fire trucks, ambulances and support vehicles were on site. An amazingly swift response by the airport. All told, about 20 vehicles responded to the crash.
The aircraft waiting to depart were held in place as a ground stop was immediately put in place. After holding for about 20 minutes, the many aircraft waiting to depart were re-directed to the shorter 5,200ft Runway 33. With less pavement to work with, one US Airways A319 held on its brakes allowing its CFM56 engines to fully spool up before releasing the brakes.
So, it all ended well. Nerves decidedly frayed, and a pilot and passenger walking way unscathed from the scene. If there’s a statistical probability of witnessing a plane crash in one’s life, let’s hope I just got that out of the way for the rest of my days.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.